Race Report - 2011 Hyattsville CX - MABRACross Super 8 Series Event #3

This weeks blog is going to be a little different. I have decided to also list my training hours and weight information since both of them seem to have direct effects on possible outcomes. Yes, this is odious but still I think is necessary. to discuss.

The first thing to consider is my over all weight. For the week my weight has averaged around 209 lbs. My goal for the beginning of cross season was under 200, but due to life and other things it has been steady at 210 since around March. Yes, like everyone else I have tried different diets etc, with little to no luck. So here comes cross season and once again I sit at about 209.


The second part of the equation is time on the bike or at least intensity. Last week I rode either outside or on the Computrainer every night but Thursday. For the purposes of numbers this equates to approximately 7 hours of saddle time and with an intensity that raised my CTL (Chronic Training Load) around 5.9 TSS. So I went from an extremely poor 30.5 to 36.4. For me to be competitive I figure that my CTL needs to be around 60, which maybe almost impossible to achieve this season. I also added about three hours of running in to assist in both fitness and potential weight loss. The weight loss at this point would be the bonus plan and not the goal, knowing that you can either loss weight or train as your goal but not both at the same time.

This weekend was the Third in the MABRACross Series, Hyattsville. Watching the “special report” on cxhairs.com suggested that the course was going to have something added that we did not see last year and it did. I got to the race prepared to ride but not necessarily prepared to race. I had thrown a Rapha Cross Clash Challenge out to a fellow 3/4 Masters, Doug Owens. We normally seem to be close to each other in the races, if he can keep tires on his bike, so I figured a challenge was in order.

Immediately following the Women’s race, I headed out on the course to pre-ride, the lap took me a little longer than anticipated and barely made it to the start. As I am jacking around getting my gloves on, the gun fires and we are off, well they are, me being in the 10th row (race number 681) I had a few seconds. I am not sure, but this may be a blessing in disguise. My first lap I did not feel as if I was totally crushed, I seem to just pace around the course picking guys off one at a time. I made the decision on the pre-ride that I would run the descent and mud bog because I knew that there would be traffic and pile-ups in that area. Sure enough this was true. The first couple of laps went well and had little problems with the course, even the descent and mud bog until the forth lap. I made it down without issues and started to ride across and the front wheel just dug in, ass over tea kettle again (Video time).

But it was mud and a soft landing, up and gone, made little difference this time. The last lap was a really good lap, lots of true racing, once again about five of us chasing each other. With less than a quarter lap to go, NCVC rider, Knight Elsberry moved in front of me and gave me the little extra needed in the chase. On the final sprint, Knight out did me by about a bike length, but well deserved on his part, it was a good sprint.

So in the MABRACross series I am sitting 15th in the overall standing after the first two races (Hyattsville has not been figured in yet). I ended up 48th for this race. Pretty disappointing but I can say I raced the entire time. What the hell, we had a sprint finish for 47th, 48th, and 49th.

So the plan for DCCX? Hopefully in two weeks I can drop a few pounds, have another 20 hours of saddle time and 6 hours of running. Using cross results I have to figure out who are my nemeses, Thom Moore of Potomac Velo and James Earl of DCMTB, find them in the pack and do my best chase. I know my double-click registration already failed, so I am starting in about 100th, so I will have a hellava lot of ground to catch up.  Crossresults prediction is 83rd out of 125 registered.  I am shooting for top 40.